Almanac

$3.6 million gift for Menlo Park school district

The Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation is giving $3.6 million to the Menlo Park City School District to help fund teachers and educational programs, the foundation announced June 11.

The gift is $250,000 higher than last year's grant, said foundation co-president Scott Hinshaw, who added that 85 percent of district families participated in the fundraising effort.

The money will make up about 10 percent of the district's operating budget for the next school year, said Superintendent Maurice Ghysels. The grant "will fully fund 24 teachers and certificated employees, as well as four and one-quarter classified employees," said school board president Terry Thygesen in a press release issued by the foundation.

"The grant helps fund the best classroom teachers and specialists, as well as library, art, music, and teaching innovation grants," said foundation co-president Clint Chao.

In the past 10 years, the foundation has granted about $22 million to the district, said foundation executive director Lynne Van Tilburg. The district has four public schools: Laurel, Encinal, Oak Knoll and Hillview. It plans to reopen a fifth campus, the former O'Connor School in the Willows neighborhood of Menlo Park, in 2016.

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